Two-piece interlocking system for temporary, permanent, or interchangeable attachment between receptive headpiece and costume headwear components containing built-in programmable led lights and sound responsive capabilities

ABSTRACT

A method for producing realistic, lightweight, scaled to size facsimiles of animal antlers, horns and other three-dimensional objects for costume headwear, and a system of interlocking components that provide interchangeability, adaptability and versatility in costume looks. Costume components contain LED lights and a sound sensor, providing environmentally responsive capabilities with programmed responses (e.g.: flashing light patterns) when activated (e.g.: in response to music or cheering in a stadium). The system includes an adaptor to retrofit hats, and a headband designed for pets.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of costume headwear, and moreparticularly to ornamental headwear such as that worn for holidays,parties, sports games, and other social events. The invention relates toa method of producing lightweight, scalable facsimiles ofthree-dimensional objects for the application of costume headwear, atwo-piece interlocking system for attachment to, or for retrofitting, aheadband, hat, helmet and the like, for temporary or permanent costumeuse, and the inclusion of internal programmable and addressable LEDlights and a sensor capable of responding to external stimuli (e.g.sound). The ornamental headwear components include lightweight,three-dimensional facsimiles of animal antlers, animal horns, or otherfanciful objects that are associated with costumes, animal features,wearable holiday and seasonal décor, or objects involvingthree-dimensional mascot or logo features that express affiliation witha sports team or other organization.

Year-round adult costuming is a rapidly growing area of interest. Inrecent years, sales of adult costumes and ornamental costume headwearhave expanded from Halloween to a host of other holiday and socialevents. Costumes and costume headwear are no longer desired only forholidays such as Halloween, but are sought for other major holidays,such as Christmas, and social events such as conventions, sports events,pub crawls, parties, music festivals, “cosplay” events, etc. Costumesare used as social identifiers in public spaces with increasingfrequency. Costume components (such as cat ears and animal tails) aremore frequently seen and accepted in every day street wear as well, asmore people gain interest in fantasy movies, video games, charactersfrom comic books, and the like. Animal costumes and animalistic elementsin everyday fashion are currently on trend, increasing the year-roundretail appeal of antlers, animal horns, animal ears, and the like.Animal ears sewn onto hooded sweatshirts and clip-on tails are twoexamples of these elements commonly seen in everyday street wear.

Typical retail costume headwear is intended for a single use. That is,once a costume piece is manufactured, it is essentially used only forits originally intended costume purpose. Typical costume headbands orother costume headwear (e.g. costume hats for sporting events) aregenerally one-piece and designed for a standalone purpose or look. Theycannot be easily adapted, customized, or personalized for alternatecostume uses once they are manufactured. This makes them bulky, addingcosts to shipping and packaging, and creating the need for additionalshelf space in retail settings. Traditional one-piece costume headbandsand hats are also more costly to manufacture, since the entire piecemust be produced, not just the ornamental features. Thereby, these itemsare more costly to the supplier and to the consumer. In addition, aone-piece, single-purpose costume headwear piece is more wasteful toproduce, since a new substrate (the headband, hat, etc.) must be madeeach time a different costume element is applied to it. This inventionstands as a versatile, economic, and less wasteful alternative tosingle-use costume headwear accessories. The invention also creates asystem for retrofitting existing hats (e.g. ball caps) with decorativecostume elements, making the decorative elements extremely adaptable forlicensing potential.

This invention creates the opportunity for costume headwear to be brokeninto components, thereby increasing versatility, adaptability, and quickcustomizability. This method provides flexibility and quicker turnaroundtime when designing costume headwear, since only the ornamental pieceitself need be created or re-worked (via three-dimensional scanning andprinting, a relatively quick process) and can be manufactured to fit thestandardized headpiece or existing hats and headwear via the universal,interlocking system described herein. Consumers would then be able tobuy new adaptations to existing headwear, creating a more interactive,updatable, and less wasteful costume niche opportunity with a quickerturnaround time for manufacturing. Additionally, large organizations,such as sports team franchises, can adapt their own team logo or mascotfeatures to be represented by the costume components, which can then beproduced on demand to be able to retrofit preexisting sports caps,beanies, and other types of headwear for either permanent or temporarycostume use.

Features such as internal LED lights would be desirable to consumers ofcostume headwear, but mass-produced costume features are not typicallydesigned with the ability to light up or respond to external stimuli.Environmentally responsive features, such as a sound sensor andmicrocontroller that are programmed to respond to external stimuli (e.g.the noise produced by crowds cheering in a sports stadium) and toproduce a result (e.g. flashing LED light patterns in response to noisein a sports stadium) would be desirable in costume headgear. The twocapabilities (internal LED lighting and sound responsiveness) would alsobe attractive features for potential licensing opportunities. However,these options cannot easily be incorporated into costume pieces oncethey are manufactured. The universal two-piece interlocking componentsystem creates an opportunity to introduce such features into the baseof the ornamental piece during or even after the manufacturing process,allowing for customization, flexibility, and quicker turnaround time(without the need to re-work the entire headwear piece) which would be adesirable attribute for headwear representing large organizations suchas sports teams. In the case of sports teams, customized costumecomponents representing a team logo (e.g. deer antlers for the MilwaukeeBucks basketball team) would be fitted with internal, programmable LEDlights and the pieces could then be attached directly on topre-fabricated team ball caps. Internal LED lights can be programmed toproduce light displays in a particular sport team's colors in responseto stadium noise (e.g. cheering and applause).

Typical costume headwear, such as the traditional one-piece headbandswith two-dimensional felt antlers typically worn for festive occasionsduring the Christmas holiday season, exemplify the outdated, cartoonish,and flat versions of animal features and other three-dimensional objectsthat are prevalent in mass-produced costume headwear. This inventionincorporates an updated take on costume headwear, in that it introducesa method for creating a realism that has heretofore been largely absentin mass-produced costume headwear. Typical costume headwear mimicking,for example, animal features (such as deer antlers worn for Christmas)is cartoonish, somewhat two-dimensional, and not realistic. With theadvent of virtual reality, advances in video game animation and specialeffects in movies, today's costume consumers are becoming more attractedto the richness of realism, rather than cheap-looking, cartoonishrepresentations of characters, animals, or other objects and theirattributes. New technologies such as three-dimensional scanning andprinting capabilities enable the printing of a life-like replica (e.g.of deer antlers or ram horns) to scale or miniaturized, that can then beused to make an industrial mold for mass production of the desiredcostume or ornamental features.

This method eliminates yet another downside of typical mass-producedcostume headwear, which can be cartoonish or cheap looking. True-to-lifereplicas of real objects, such as deer antlers, will not look cheap orcheaply made. The elegance and intricacy of natural forms can bepreserved in this method and replicated for mass-produced costumeheadwear. Surface detail is preserved and a highly natural look can becreated.

Typical mass-produced costume headwear is often uncomfortable, bulky,heavy, oversized, and ill-fitting. The method described herein employsthe use of lightweight resin, foam, or similar for casting molds (fornon-hollow components) and/or a plastic injection, rotational moldingmethod, 3D printing or similar process to create hollow costumecomponents. The resulting lightweight costume components can be eithertemporarily or permanently mounted onto a specialized headband or hatinsert adapter for maximum comfort, stability, balance, andadjustability.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a lightweight detachable costumeornament (e.g. a scaled-down, realistic facsimile of a deer antler)which attaches, either permanently or temporarily, to a headband, hat,and the like through an interlocking attachment system (such as atwist-lock connective mechanism, or similar) wherein the base of thedecorative costume component includes one half of a male/female fittingthat connects via twist-lock, or similar, to the corresponding half of amale/female fitting on the specialized headband or hat insert adapter.The base of the costume component can accommodate an LED light and soundsensor, and the specialized headband or hat insert adapter canaccommodate and conceal a mini battery pack. A specialized headbandallows the costume components to easily attach and detach to and fromthe headpiece in a locking fashion. Hats are adapted with a plasticstrip either sewn into or tucked tucked into the inside crown of thehat. A male/female fitting is attached to the top of the hat by screw,rivet, or similar through existing grommets (where applicable) or twosmall holes punched in the crown of the hat, allowing the hat to receivethe corresponding male/female fitting in the base of the costumecomponents. Realistic costume components are produced using a method of3D scanning an object (e.g. animal antlers or horns), scaling the 3Dmodel to an ideal size, adding the male/female attachment fitting(within the 3D model) to the base of the costume component, and printinga hollow replica including the attachment part. 3D printed componentscan be produced for small-scale batches or for products that are verytimely and in need of a quick turnaround time (just-in-timemanufacturing process). Additionally, 3D printed and scaled replicas canbe used to make an industrial mold for large-scale batches, to beinjected with a lightweight resin, foam, or similar (for lightweight,non-hollow pieces) or by a rotational molding process, or similar method(for lightweight, hollow pieces). All manufacturing methods will allowLED light to shine through the final piece, provided the injectedmaterial used for producing non-hollow objects is slightly translucent.Three-dimensional facsimiles for costume components may also be producedby making a direct mold of a real object (e.g. animal antlers or horns),and then cast in the same fashion described above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments of the present invention are illustrated as an exampleand are not limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings, inwhich like references may indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts front, side and locked views of male/female parts of oneexample of a typical twist-lock type connective fitting for theuniversal attachment system, according to various embodiments of thepresent invention. FIG. 1 shows one example of a twist-lock connectivefitting, in which a plug with flanges (11, 13) is inserted into thecorresponding gaps in a receptacle (12, 14) and twisted to lock it intoplace (15).

FIG. 2 shows one example of a U-shaped headband (23) with an example ofa twist-lock receptacle fitting (22) attached to the top with a rivet,screw, or similar (21), according to various embodiments describedherein.

FIG. 3 shows an exploded perspective view of one example of anadjustable fabric-encased specialized receiving headband (35) with oneexample of a connective male or female twist-lock (or similar)receptacle/plug attachment fitting (37) attached to or molded into theflexible plastic insert (32), according to various embodiments describedherein. The flexible plastic insert (32) is encased between two piecesof fabric (31, 33), the top piece of fabric having two holes (38)allowing for the exposure of the attachment fitting (37). A chin strapmade of elastic (34) is made adjustable in size with bra strapadjustment rings and sliders.

FIG. 4 depicts various examples of 3D-printed or injection moldedcostume components (41, 42, 43) each, according to this embodiment, witha flanged plug (or similar connective fitting) either molded into,inserted into, or attached to its base (44), according to variousembodiments described herein.

FIG. 5 shows an exploded perspective view of a U-shaped headband (56)and costume components (51) with attachment parts according to variousembodiments described herein. In this embodiment, a flanged plugtwist-lock (or similar) connective fitting (52) is either molded into,inserted into, or attached to the base of the costume component (51).The corresponding fitting (54) is attached to the U-shaped headband witha rivet (53, 55). FIG. 57 shows the U-shaped headband with costumecomponents in locked (attached) position. FIG. 58 shows anotherembodiment, in this case a headband for cats and dogs (or other pets).The pet costume headband includes a flexible plastic insert (58.1) withgrommets or holes to allow for connection between the two twist-lock (orsimilar) attachment fittings. Elastic straps (58.2) fit around theanimal's ears and attach under the animal's chin with a Velcro chinstrap (58.4). Costume components for the pet headband will attach usingsame attachment parts and methods as shown in FIGS. 51-55. FIG. 59 showsa U-shaped headband (59.4) and a different attachment method. In thisembodiment, costume components (59.1) are attached by threading a screw(59.3) through a hole or grommet in the headband, and into a threadedinsert (59.2) in the base of the costume component. Alternately, costumecomponents can be attached with a screw directly screwed into the baseof the component (without a threaded insert), or glued using epoxy.

FIG. 6 shows one embodiment of costume components fitted internally withprogrammable LED lights. In this embodiment, a strip of small LED lights(61) is either threaded into a hollow costume component (67), or placedinto a mold prior to injection molding, thereby becomingencased/embedded into the plastic during the injection molding process.Wires (63) connecting the LED light strips to the battery, sound sensor,and on/off switch (65) will exit through the bottom of the costumecomponent connector fitting (62) and through the bottom or side of thecorresponding fitting (66), and the battery and switch are held in placeand concealed in a small pocket (64) on the inside of the fabric-encasedheadband. Alternately, the battery and switch can be held in place withVelcro, straps, snaps, glue, and the like. In another embodiment, theelectrical parts (battery, sound sensor, and switch) can be containedwithin the connective fittings themselves, either at the base of acostume component or in the corresponding fitting in the headband orhat.

FIG. 7 shows an exploded perspective of one example of a baseball hat(79) with a flexible plastic hat insert adaptor (76) and a connectorsuch as a snap or a rivet (74,77), which enable the wearer to easilyattach one half of the twist-lock attachment (in this case, the femalereceptacle) (73) to the top of the hat and the hat insert adaptor (76)through the corresponding grommets (75, 78) in the plastic hat insertadapter (76) and the top of the baseball hat. The hat insert adaptorallows a wearer to retrofit any hat, connecting the costume components(71) securely to the top of the hat and the plastic hat insert (76). Theplastic hat insert adaptor enables the hat to receive and support thecostume components (71) via corresponding interlocking fittings in thebase of the components and the top of the hat (72, 73), according tovarious embodiments described herein.

FIG. 8 shows another perspective of the example shown in FIG. 7, withthe hat insert adaptor, snap/rivet, connective (male/female) twist-locktype (or similar) mechanism and costume components with correspondinginterlocking fittings, according to various embodiments describedherein.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show further examples of costume components attached tovarious types of hats, hoods and the like, fitted with the plastic hatinsert adaptor, according to various embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of oneor more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singularforms of “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural formsas well as the singular forms unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by onehaving ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Itwill be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonlyused dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and thepresent disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overlyformal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

In describing the invention, it will be understood that a number oftechniques and steps are disclosed. Each of these has individual benefitand each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in somecases all, of the other disclosed techniques. Accordingly, for the sakeof clarity, this description will refrain from repeating every possiblecombination of the individual steps in an unnecessary fashion.Nevertheless, the specification and claims should be read with theunderstanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope ofthe invention and the claims.

New methods for producing realistic costume headwear components and asystem for attachment to various forms of headwear are discussed herein.In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, toone skilled in the art that the present invention may be practicedwithout these specific details.

The present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of theinvention, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specificembodiments illustrated by the figures or description below.

The present invention will now be described by referencing the appendedfigures representing preferred embodiments. FIG. 1 depicts an explodedperspective view of the elements that comprise one embodiment of thetwo-piece interlocking mechanism for costume headwear and the like (the“system”) according to various embodiments of the present invention. Inpreferred embodiments, a female twist-lock connective fitting(“receptacle”) (12,14) is attached to the receiving headband (23,35)with a rivet (21,53,55). Attachment may also be achieved with screw(59.3, 59.2), epoxy, or similar, or may be molded directly into theplastic headband or plastic hat insert adaptor itself. In preferredembodiments, a male twist-lock connective fitting (“plug”) (11,13) ismolded or inserted into the base of the costume component (41-44). Theplug connector may be attached to the base of the costume componentthrough the molding or 3-D printing process, or via insertion into baseand connection via screw and threaded insert, epoxy, or similar method.In the preferred embodiment, the plug has flanges on the side (13) thatline up with corresponding gaps on the receptacle (14). The costumecomponent is locked into the correct front-facing position by twistingits base (the plug) in the receptacle on headband or hat insert untilthe locked position is achieved (15, 57). In other embodiments, theconfiguration of the interlocking mechanism in this system is reversed,in that the male plug connector is located on the headband or hatinsert, and the corresponding female receptacle is located on the baseof the costume components. Other embodiments of the interlocking systeminclude any and every method that secures the two components (costumecomponent and headband and/or hat insert) in a secure, interlocked orconnected position, including screw-on, press-on, snap-on, plug-in,clip-on, magnetic force, and the like, and is not limited to atwist-lock connective mechanism.

In preferred embodiments of the specialized receiving headbandconstruction, a flexible strip of HDPE polyethylene, plastic or similar(32) is fitted with two receptacle connectors (12, 37, 54) by attachmentvia rivet (53,55), screw (59.3, 59.2), or via the molding process. Thestrip is encased in fabric (31,33). Two holes or grommets (38) in thefabric on the top of the headband allow for access to the receptacles.Costume components are then attached to the headband via thecorresponding interlocking connective mechanism (11, 44, 52). Thespecialized, fabric-encased headband is secured on to the head of thewearer by an adjustable elastic strap, which is sewn into each end ofthe headband fabric casing (34) and made adjustable with bra strap ringsand adjuster parts (34). In another embodiment, a simple U-shapedheadband made of molded plastic or acrylic or similar (56) may be usedas a substrate for the system, with the receptacle (54) molded directlyinto the headband or attached with a rivet (53,55), screw (59.3, 59.2),epoxy, and the like. In another embodiment of the invention, similarmethods are applied to construct a headband for animals (58). A flexibleplastic insert with holes (58.1) makes the headband receptive for usewith the system described herein.

In preferred embodiments of the specialized hat insert system adaptor, aflexible strip of HDPE polyethylene, plastic or similar (76) with twoholes corresponding to the two top/side grommets (75) on the crown of astandard baseball hat (79) or similar is fit underneath the crown of ahat in such a way that the holes in the hat insert (78) line up with thegrommets (75) in the baseball hat (where applicable). If another type ofhat is used (FIG. 9) and grommets or perforations do not already exist,two small holes may be poked into the fabric of the hat or capcorresponding with the existing holes in the hat insert. The receptacleconnector (73) is attached to the top of the hat by a rivet (74,77),long prong snap, epoxy, screw or similar attaching from the underside ofthe hat insert (76), through the hole or grommet (78, 75) to the bottomof the receptacle (73), securing it to the top of the hat. Costumecomponents (71) are then inserted into the receptacle and locked intoplace via the interlocking connecting mechanism (FIGS. 8-10).

In preferred embodiments of the system, the non-hollow costumecomponents (41) are molded with a low-density urethane casting resin orcasting foam. To preserve internal lighting capability, non-hollowcostume components that are intended to light up will be cast with aslightly translucent resin material (milky white resin/plastic),allowing for light to pass through to the surface. Small addressable andprogrammable LED light strips (61) will be placed into the hollow mold,and will become embedded inside the casting resin once the moldingprocess has taken place and the resin/plastic has cured. Wiring (63) tothe coin cell battery, sound sensor, and on/off switch (66) will exitthe costume component through the bottom of the component baseattachment fitting (62) and through the bottom or side of thecorresponding attachment fitting (66) and will be concealed in a smallpocket in the headband (64), tucked into the cuff of a hat, or attachedwith Velcro, snap, strap or similar. Hollow costume components are madethrough a rotational molding process, or similar. In the preferredembodiment, small addressable and programmable RGB LED light strips (61)are threaded into the hollow costume component (67). The LED circuit issoldered to a real-time microcontroller and to the breakout pins of asound sensor. A rechargeable power supply is supplied by a coin cellbattery or the like, and wired to supply the components. The electroniccomponents are bundled into a small packet which is held and concealedin a small pocket (64) built into the fabric-encased headband, orattached with Velcro, snap, strap, or similar to the headband, hat andthe like.

1. A detachable costume head ornament, which attaches to a headband,hat, and the like through an interlocking, twist-lock attachmentmechanism (or similar connective fitting) wherein the decorative costumecomponent includes a male or female fitting that connects via saidattachment mechanism to a corresponding male or female fitting on aspecialized receiving headband, hat insert, helmet and the like.
 2. Thetwo-piece interlocking costume headwear system of claim 1 furthercomprising realistic facsimiles of animal antlers, animal horns, otheranimal features, or other wearable holiday and seasonal décor that areproduced by using the method of 3D scanning an object, scaling to thedesired size, adding a connective fitting part to the base of the objectwithin the 3D model, and printing a 3D replica with a male/femaleconnective fitting in its base; the costume component is then eitherreplicated further through continued 3D printing, or the printed replicais used to produce a mold for mass production. Mass produced costumecomponent pieces that are plastic injection molded will be cast witheither a lightweight resin, foam, or the like (for a non-hollow butfeather light piece) or by a rotational molding process (or similar) fora lightweight, hollow piece.
 3. The two-piece interlocking costumeheadwear system of claim 1 further comprising costume componentsexhibiting three-dimensional features of mascots or logos that expressaffiliation with a sports team or other organization.
 4. The two-pieceinterlocking costume headwear system of claim 1 further comprising aU-shaped headband made of plastic or acrylic (or similar material) or aflexible strip of plastic encased in fabric with an adjustable elasticband attached, which features a male or female fitting where theornamental pieces will connect, to be either molded into the headbanditself or attached via screw, rivet, snap, glue or the like.
 5. Thetwo-piece interlocking costume headwear system of claim 1 furthercomprising an insert for a baseball cap, hat, hood, and the like to bemade of a flexible plastic strip (or similar) that fits under the crownof the hat or headwear and includes holes to line up with grommets orsmall holes punched in the top of the hat or headwear. Inserts under thehat or headwear will attach to the male or female fitting of atwist-lock or similar mechanism by a screw, rivet, or similar through ahole or grommet in hat or headwear, to make the hat or headwearreceptive to attachable costume components of the same system.
 6. Theinvention of claims 1-5, wherein the ornamental costume pieces containinternal addressable and programmable LED lights and a sensor capable ofresponding to external stimuli to produce a result (e.g. a sensor thatis programmed to respond to the sound of music or cheering in a stadiumby producing flashing LED light patterns).
 7. The invention of claims 2,3 and 6 without the twist-lock (or similar) attachment mechanism (i.e.:a one-piece costume headband or hat with lightweight realisticfacsimiles of three-dimensional animal antlers, animal horns, and thelike, that are permanently affixed to a headband or hat and that areproduced using the method described in claim 2, and that containprogrammable LED lights and a sound responsive sensor.
 8. I claim theproduct comprising any feature described above, either individually orin combination with any feature, in any configuration.